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Berlin measles epidemic reaches new high

A measles outbreak in Berlin continues to see a rise in new cases. Calls for compulsory vaccination are becoming ever louder, with a strong majority of Germans supporting a new law in favor of vaccination.

Berlin saw 111 new cases of measles this week, health officials said on Friday, making it the worst for new infections since the current outbreak began in October.

A spokeswoman for the State Office of Health and Social Affairs said 724 people had sickened since the start of the epidemic, an overwhelming majority of whom had not been vaccinated.

Around a quarter of the infected patients have required hospital treatment. Seventy babies under the age of one have also caught the illness.

Babies have no immunity against the disease unless their mothers have been vaccinated before becoming pregnant, and can only legally be vaccinated themselves from the age of nine months.

He pointed out that vaccination was not only there to protect the person being inoculated, but also children who could not be vaccinated for medical reasons, such as young babies and children with congenital or acquired immune deficiencies.

The measles virus is highly contagious and is passed on by droplet infection. Children under six and adults over 20 are particularly at risk.